Emperor: Open Play
Open Play Options Period: There are 3 settings which get cycled to the next; when you click the button to the right. :Bronze Age -> Iron Age -> Steel Age -> Feb 600 BCE is the Bronze Age starting date. Feb 70 BCE is the Iron Age starting date. Feb 900 CE is the Steel Age starting date. Each 'Age' has a set of commodities that may be available or not. Some commodities will be available only through trade. See Emperor: Commodity Table (Metal Age) for more information. Difficulty Level: There are 5 settings which get cycled to the next; when you click the button to the right. :Very Easy -> Easy -> Normal -> Hard -> Very Hard -> There is no Briefing Panel, so this is your only means to set it. Assuming you have completed most of the Historical Campaigns then you should know what you are comfortable with. Density of Cities: There are 3 settings which get cycled to the next; when you click the button to the right. :Low -> Medium -> High -> Low usually generates 4~5 cities. Medium usually generates 7~8 cities. High usually generates 11~13 cities. Effectively, this is the number of cities that be on the Empire Map to trade with, become your ally or cause you trouble. The number of cities listed above is the usual range, but sometimes fall outside the range depending of other settings. Difficulty Level, Non-Player Relations and random seed being the major influences. Non-Player Relations: There are 5 settings which get cycled to the next; when you click the button to the right. :Peaceful -> Harmless -> Neutral -> Aggressive -> Ferocious -> Difficulty Level is a major influencing factor in how troublesome your neighbors get. Lots of Cities will likely compound the problems if your not familiar with the military aspects of the game. Disaster Frequency: There are 4 settings which get cycled to the next; when you click the button to the right. :None -> Rare -> Occasional -> Frequent -> Difficulty Level is a major influencing factor in the severity of the disasters. City Map You can select a city map here, though there is no description, just a name. There are two HTML documents available for download that are useful. Emperor MAPs Explorer is the newest and provides extra details in a simple form. The older HTML document is available at the same website. Maps with Canal or Great Wall monuments are not listed. Some of the maps were never used in any Missions. You can add custom maps to 'C:/Sierra/EmperorRotMK/Cities and they should be listed, exceptions being Canal and Great Wall monument maps. Monuments There are a few restrictions: Underground Vault, Canal and Great Wall monuments are not available. Bronze AGe Iron AGe Steel AGe Open Play Options (Continued) Random Seed: You can input any text here to generate different variations in building and commodity availability. The 'Difficulty Level' has some influence, the lower it is the more commodities and buildings you will likely have. Some building are map resource dependent. Commodity availability may be made through trade with other cities. Return to Campaign Menu: Navigates back to the Main menu. To the City: Takes you to the city that you just setup. Category:Emperor basics